Guillaume
"Longue Épée" of Normandy
[William "Longsword"]

Like his father Rollo, he is often
given the anachronistic title of "duke of Normandy".
Although no contemporary source gives him the title of count, his
son Richard is called count of Rouen in the Planctus,
written very soon after William's death. William first appears as
the leader of the Normans in the year 933 ["Willelmus,
princeps Nordmannorum, eidem regi se committit; cui etiam rex dat
terram Brittonum in ora maritima sitam." Flodoard, Annales,
s.a. 933, 55; van Houts (2000), 45], having succeeded his father
Rollo sometime in or after 928 [Rollo's last known appearance in
the records, see Flodoard, Annales, s.a. 928, 41; van
Houts (2000), 45]. In (probably) 942, he was treacherously killed
at the instigation of Arnulf I of Flanders ["Arnulfus
comes Willelmum, Nordmannorum principem, ad colloquium evocatum
dolo perimi fecit." Flodoard, Annales, s.a.
943, 86; van Houts (2000), 47]. Shortly thereafter, an anonymous
poet wrote the Planctus, a poem lamenting his death [see
Robert
Helmerichs's Planctus website].

Date of Birth: Unknown.Place of
Birth: Overseas.
[Planctus], i.e., not on the European mainland, and
therefore possibly in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, or one of
the islands held by Vikings (Orkneys, Hebrides, Man, etc.), all
plausible places for the son of a Viking to be born.

Date of Death: (probably) 17 December 942.
Dudo iii, 64 (p. 84) gives 17 December 943, as does Guillaume de
Jumièges [GND iii, 12 (vol. 1, pp. 94-5)], and the death is the
first event listed under the year 943 in Flodoard's annals [MGH
SS 3, 389, van Houts (2000), 47], but a literal reading of both
known manuscripts of the Planctus suggests that the event
occurred on a Saturday (dies sexta or die sexto),
which fits 942 but not 943, so the evidence of the Planctus
would suggest that the year given by Dudo is wrong. The fact that
Flodoard recorded an event in December as his first event of the
year 943 also suggests 942 as the correct date. Perhaps Flodoard
did not hear about the event until sometime in 943, and did not
realize that it had occurred late in the previous year. [See GND
vol. 1, p. 95n]. However, the Obituaries of Jumièges give 16
December as the date of death, which was a Saturday in 943 [Ex
Obituario Gemmeticensi, RHF 23, 422]. Nevertheless, the
balance of the evidence seems to favor 17 December 942 [See also
GND, vol. 1, p. 95, n. 2, citing also discussions of Prentout and
Lauer (to which I do not have access).]Place of Death: Picquigny-sur-Somme.
[GND iii, 11 (vol. 1 , pp. 92-3)]

Commentary

Falsely attributed
daughter:

Emma.Searle 54-5, 94, 287 mentions Emma as a
possible daughter of William and Liègard, but the charter cited
by Searle only makes Emma a daughter of Liègard, so Emma can be
identified as the daughter of that name from Liègard's second
marriage to Thibaud of Blois. See the remark by Elisabeth van
Houts in GND 1, 81, n. 7.

Bibliography

Dudo = Eric Christiansen, ed. & trans., Dudo
of St. Quentin, History of the Normans (The Boydell Press,
Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1998). Citation is by book and chapter of
Dudo's work, with the page number in parentheses.

GND = Guillaume de Jumièges, Gesta
Normannorum Ducum, as edited in Elisabeth van Houts, ed.
& trans., The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of
Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, 2 vols.,
(Oxford, 1992). Citation is by book and chapter of Guillaume's
work, with the volume and page number of the edition by van Houts
in parentheses.

Planctus = The Planctus of
William Longsword, a poem written shortly after the death of
William Longsword. For a detailed bibliography on this important
source, plus scans of facsimiles of the two known manuscripts and
other discussion, see the website The Planctus
for William Longsword, by Robert Helmerichs.

RHF = Recueil des historiens des Gaules
et de la France.

Richer = Richer of Rheims (see PL 138 for the
text, in Latin). Citation is by book and chapter of Richer's
work, with the page number in parentheses.